Ashok Mohanani

Indian Real Estate market went through a lot of ups and downs in 2017, for both developers and the home buyers it was a wait and watch situation. Homebuyers may be placed at various stages of the real estate cycle as home buying is considered a pivotal change in life in our country. And developers are the ones who play a vital role in the growing of any country. Real estate falls under 18% tax bracket of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Act with 1/3rd abatement for land. Mr. Ashok Mohanani, Chairman Ekta World & VP NAREDCO West shares his thoughtful insights on budget Feb 2018.

Maharera Launch

The Maharashtra Real Estate Regulatory Authority (MahaRERA) is all set to launch a 33-member MahaRERA Conciliation and Dispute Resolution Forum (MCDRF) to settle disputes between developers and home buyers at faster pace and at a lower cost. The forum comprises of representatives from apex developer bodies like CREDAI and NAREDCO, and consumer bodies like the Mumbai Grahak Panchayat.

The MCDRF has been set up as per the mandate of Section32(g) of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, which states that measures to facilitate amicable conciliation of disputes between promoters and allotters must be taken through dispute settlement forums.

Maharashtra became the first state to set up such a conciliation forum. The idea behind reforming this forum is to rebuild the lost trust between developers and home buyers and also to prevent unnecessary litigation. The fees for approaching the forum is Rs. 1000 only, which can be paid after both the parties, are mutually ready to settle the dispute. In case the parties do not reach a consensus still the home buyer will have option to lodge complaint against the builder via the MahaRERA Complaints Portal. Also if a developer do not responds within seven days, then the developer bodies can intervene and also persuade the developer to come to the conciliation table. MahaRERA has adjudicated more than 500 complaints so far. Henceforth, MahaRERA has proved to be a good mechanism for both the parties so far.